Poplar growers of region heave a sigh of relief

Shiv Kumar Sharma

Tribune News Service

Yamunanagar, June 6

In a major relief to poplar growers of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, rates of poplar have reached Rs 900 per quintal in the plywood industry of Yamunanagar district.

According to information, it was being sold for Rs 1,100 per quintal in 2012, but the prices started declining in 2013 and touched Rs 400 per quintal in 2015 following a huge gap in demand and supply.

Vijay Kumar, an arhtiya who trades in poplar and eucalyptus in wood market of Manakpur village (Jagadhri), said the poplar rates started witnessing an increase from December 2018 and reached up to Rs 900 per quintal.

“The prices of oversized poplar have gone up to Rs 900 per quintal this time here and the under-sized wood is priced between Rs 600 and Rs 700 per quintal. The rates are expected to increase in future also,” Kumar said.

Sources said the rates of poplar wood witnessed a big jump after the Haryana government opened licences to set up new factories of ply board, pilling and saw mills in the state in 2017.

“As many as 756 licences have been issued to set up ply board factories, pilling factories and saw mills in Yamunanagar district since December 2017 to date. On the basis of these licences, around 80 new factories of ply board have come up and started production,” said a source in the Forest Department, Yamunanagar.

As per information procured under the RTI Act, there were 1,159 plywood units, including 329 ply board manufacturing factories, 505 saw mills, 265 pilling factories and 60 chippers, in Yamunanagar district before the issuance of new licences started in 2017.

The downfall in poplar rates had forced the farmers to uproot the existing poplar trees from their fields and stop new plantation. But, with the jump in rates, they have again started planting poplar.

“The farmers have suffered losses due to decline in poplar rates in the past several years. But now the poplar has started fetching increased rates,” said Sudhir Chaudhry, a poplar grower of Begampur village.

According to information, the poplar growers of Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh supply wood to Yamunangar, as the district has the largest plywood industry of this region and one of the largest plywood industries of the country. “Every day, around 1,000-1,100 tractor-trolleys loaded with poplar reach the wood markets of Yamunanagar,” said a source.

Devender Chawla, president, All India Plywood Manufacturers Association, said the production cost of ply and board has increased following an increase in the rates of poplar wood.